“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” – Romans 15:4
I shared this verse on social media today and it very fitting for the my current journey. Judge what you will about the Bible (the scientific cohesiveness, various interpretations, etc), but there is a reason we have a past and that the past exists. If we pay attention to it, we will learn from it. We’ve been conditioned as a society, especially in the West, to do everything possible to bury and run from the past – relationships, personal failures, professional disappointments, and the list goes on. The question then becomes, “How do we learn from the past if we keep running from it?”
We all have stains, bruises, scars, and traces of what we used to be that outline the path that we’ve navigated in our lifetime. I think conventional “religion” has birthed and perpetuated a culture of shame about life’s lessons. We’re supposed to be perfect, flawless, and have it together all the time – but we weren’t created as robots, androids, or inanimate objects. Even the author of the letter, which contains today’s verse, had a past. He didn’t start preaching and teaching straight out the womb. He had a misguided worldview, took himself too seriously, and even participated in several mass murders – yet he’s the most-quoted person from the Holy Writ. We don’t have to be held captive by our past.
The Apostle Paul’s life journey shows that we all have hope of a better outcome than what society has spoken over us. Don’t ever let anyone pigeonhole or typecast you based off what you’ve been. Our stories are written for our own learning, but also for the learning of the generation behind us and to illustrate to them that they have hope.
Take courage today in your story. There are some not-so-great pages and chapters, but God is forever writing revisions in your life.
-MB
Follow me on Twitter: @justmobrown
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